A man with a plan. Please, criticize...

[Soundork]

The Plan:

Monday-Wednesday-Friday

Dumbbell shoulder press – standing
Dumbbell lateral rise
Rolling shrugs
Pull-ups
Squats
Bench press
Standing calf raise
Swinging dips

Tuesday-Thursday

Reverse Pec Deck fly
Deadlifts
Chin-ups
Crawling-like a bear crawling, but the torso is lowered down to the floor and then brought back up with each step
Pec fly-horizontal on bench, dumbbell in each hand
Chest supported rows
Over the bar curls
Seated and prone leg curls
Swinging dips

Notes:

1. Target 4-5 sets of 8-10 repetitions with exception of dumbbell shoulder press where target is three sets only of 20 repetitions
2. Add/subtract weight as necessary between sets
3. Seated and prone leg curls start in two weeks, to avoid injury (more on legs later)
4. All of the above performed first thing in the morning, before breakfast and work.
5. Goal to include 3-4 3.5mile/5.6Km runs a week, in non-running days-an hour-hour and a half hikes or bike rides
6. In weekends either a 2.5hrs+ long hike each day

The Man:

54 years old, height - 5.8ft/174cm, weight 213lbs/96.6Kg. Not much of subcutaneous fat, but visceral fat makes me look like I have a beer gut.

Man's Goal:

I would like to lose the gut and build my leg muscles. Upper body size and proportions are fine. This initial plan is for the first 90 days only. If it works, I will continue with it until it stops working. I will have a first assessment at 1.5-2 months into it. Plan based on what I think would work for me

This is a long-term goal. It would be nice to build the leg muscle mass by the end of the year, but given my condition, it might not be possible.

I would appreciate any constructive criticism and welcome all suggestions leading to plan improvement.

Thanks in advance.

Best

Soundork




P.S. More about the man:

The information below might be useful to peeps without short attention span

When I was young I did a lot of gymnastics, running, swimming and bike riding and purposely kept my legs thin. There wouldn't be any "muscle memory" there. No need to build calf mass as they are almost as thick as thighs. Lunges are out of the picture for now as they would quickly lead to injury.

I always kept active by doing favorite exercises early in the morning and hiking after work. Have not ran in four years, because of an injury. Still can complete a half-marathon at a rate of 12min/mile.

Never lifted weights, just started this Monday and here are the weights I used for few key exercises:

Bench press - 12 repetitions with 110lbs/50Kg on the bar (Olympic)
Squats - 7 repetitions with 30lbs/13.6Kg on the bar

Scaling down on alcohol and portions are the only dietary changes that I intend to do for now.

[BeginnerGainz]

The Plan:

Monday-Wednesday-Friday

Dumbbell shoulder press – standing
Dumbbell lateral rise
Rolling shrugs
Pull-ups
Squats
Bench press
Standing calf raise
Swinging dips

Tuesday-Thursday

Reverse Pec Deck fly
Deadlifts
Chin-ups
Crawling-like a bear crawling, but the torso is lowered down to the floor and then brought back up with each step
Pec fly-horizontal on bench, dumbbell in each hand
Chest supported rows
Over the bar curls
Seated and prone leg curls
Swinging dips

Notes:

1. Target 4-5 sets of 8-10 repetitions with exception of dumbbell shoulder press where target is three sets only of 20 repetitions
2. Add/subtract weight as necessary between sets
3. Seated and prone leg curls start in two weeks, to avoid injury (more on legs later)
4. All of the above performed first thing in the morning, before breakfast and work.
5. Goal to include 3-4 3.5mile/5.6Km runs a week, in non-running days-an hour-hour and a half hikes or bike rides
6. In weekends either a 2.5hrs+ long hike each day

The Man:

54 years old, height - 5.8ft/174cm, weight 213lbs/96.6Kg. Not much of subcutaneous fat, but visceral fat makes me look like I have a beer gut.

Man's Goal:

I would like to lose the gut and build my leg muscles. Upper body size and proportions are fine. This initial plan is for the first 90 days only. If it works, I will continue with it until it stops working. I will have a first assessment at 1.5-2 months into it. Plan based on what I think would work for me

This is a long-term goal. It would be nice to build the leg muscle mass by the end of the year, but given my condition, it might not be possible.

I would appreciate any constructive criticism and welcome all suggestions leading to plan improvement.

Thanks in advance.

Best

Soundork




P.S. More about the man:

The information below might be useful to peeps without short attention span

When I was young I did a lot of gymnastics, running, swimming and bike riding and purposely kept my legs thin. There wouldn't be any "muscle memory" there. No need to build calf mass as they are almost as thick as thighs. Lunges are out of the picture for now as they would quickly lead to injury.

I always kept active by doing favorite exercises early in the morning and hiking after work. Have not ran in four years, because of an injury. Still can complete a half-marathon at a rate of 12min/mile.

Never lifted weights, just started this Monday and here are the weights I used for few key exercises:

Bench press - 12 repetitions with 110lbs/50Kg on the bar (Olympic)
Squats - 7 repetitions with 30lbs/13.6Kg on the bar

Scaling down on alcohol and portions are the only dietary changes that I intend to do for now.

Would have been a lot easier to read and comprehend if you would have put sets and reps next to the actual exercises in x times x format (3x8,5x5, etc) and if it the rest of the info wasn’t so....segmented. Understand this is a minor gripe.

Now, that looks like a lot of volume and assuming you are doing the big movements with any type of intensity, it will actually be detrimental to your goal as your body will not have a break, at all.

You don’t need a million and one leg exercises to build mass and if it were me personally, TO BUILD MASS, I’d stick to squats, leg press, leg curls, leg extensions, calf raises/calf press, hanging leg raises and RDL/SLDL. If the goal is mass feel free to skip the deadlift off the floor, exercises without an eccentric component aren’t good for building muscle.

[BeginnerGainz]

As far as the rest of that is concerned, I’d keep a push day for chest and shoulder work and a pull day for back work (including rear delts and lower back)

[WolfRose7]

Excessive for most people but especially for a novice. Lot of junk volume that's going to subtract from quality hard sets on key exercises and progressing them.

See Barbell Medinces free beginner template and compare the difference

[TolerantLactose]

Good luck with all that.

[air2fakie]

No idea why you'd create a detailed weightlifting plan for yourself if you've never lifted weights before in your life. It's only been a few days so nothing lost if you just scrap it and get on a proper novice program.

[Soundork]

Thanks to everyone who replied.

I get it, there is just too much exercise in this plan. To my defense, I have a desk job and it felt that this much would be just enough to make me not twitch at the end of the day due to lack of movement.

I would look into beginner's routines myself, but in a mean time here are my concerns:

1. Legwise, I am a complete novice. Legs are thin and very weak.
2. My upper body can handle workouts that are suitable for the peeps in the "Intermediate" category at a minimum.
3. I want to build leg mass and burn visceral abdomen fat simultaneously

Does anyone have a workout in mind that potentially addresses the above issues?

Thanks in advance.

Best

Soundork

[air2fakie]

1. Legwise, I am a complete novice. Legs are thin and very weak.
2. My upper body can handle workouts that are suitable for the peeps in the "Intermediate" category at a minimum.
3. I want to build leg mass and burn visceral abdomen fat simultaneously

Does anyone have a workout in mind that potentially addresses the above issues?

Yes, any good novice program. Read the stickies on the main page or look into Barbell Medicine mentioned above.

Any novice program will be balanced and build your legs along with your upper body. You've been lifting for 3 days, so you're not an Intermediate upper body and Novice lower body. You'll see appropriate gains on a novice routine.

Burning fat is a diet issue - read the stickies in the Nutrition forum for more info. You're going to be limited in how much muscle you can build if you're also trying to burn fat.

[Soundork]

Yes, any good novice program. Read the stickies on the main page or look into Barbell Medicine mentioned above.

Any novice program will be balanced and build your legs along with your upper body. You've been lifting for 3 days, so you're not an Intermediate upper body and Novice lower body. You'll see appropriate gains on a novice routine.

Burning fat is a diet issue - read the stickies in the Nutrition forum for more info. You're going to be limited in how much muscle you can build if you're also trying to burn fat.

Thank you for your quick reply and thank you for pointing me to the stickies.

Just two last clarifications:

1. I do not have any plans for building any upper body mass. I am content with size and proportions.
2. I would like to build leg mass, because no longer plan to do any calisthenics. I do look like genie coming out of a lamp...

[air2fakie]

Thank you for your quick reply and thank you for pointing me to the stickies.

Just two last clarifications:

1. I do not have any plans for building any upper body mass. I am content with size and proportions.
2. I would like to build leg mass, because no longer plan to do any calisthenics. I do look like genie coming out of a lamp...

Got it it’s your body. You have thin legs but are 5-8, 213 lbs. So that upper body mass is not muscle, and you might want to do a balanced routine so you look good when the fat hopefully comes off.

But your choice of course. And don’t forget the diet side which is most important for you.

[ElrondHubbard]

You ask for criticism, so here it is...

Your nose is too big.







And what's with that crawling like a bear thing?

The others are right. Get yourself on a balanced novice program. Your legs aren't as bad as you think they are, and your upper body isn't as good as you think it is. Get the diet under control, and lift with a healthy whole-body focus. "Spot sculpting" is for advanced bodybuilders. You aren't that. Every muscle has a role to play in assisting and balancing every other muscle. You do have some upper body targets, and that's good, but it will be simpler, quicker, and more productive if you go with a program that's proven to work over many years.

Get strong all over. Your body and your attitude will thank you, and it might even help with the hiking.

[TolerantLactose]

2. My upper body can handle workouts that are suitable for the peeps in the "Intermediate" category at a minimum.

If I had to put a number to it, intermediate at your body weight would be creeping up on a 3-plate bench, 2-plate overhead press and 275lb bb row.

[WolfRose7]

Thank you for your quick reply and thank you for pointing me to the stickies.

Just two last clarifications:

1. I do not have any plans for building any upper body mass. I am content with size and proportions.
2. I would like to build leg mass, because no longer plan to do any calisthenics. I do look like genie coming out of a lamp...

Running a balanced program will likely even out your upper - lower differences.. Since the weaker smaller muscle groups will catch up fast. Legs especially will grow quite quickly when they haven't been trained adequately before.

I'll reiterate for barbell medicine beginner or the bridge v1 (that's the free version 😉)

[DCSpartan]

A grown man squatting 30 pounds has other priorities than doing lat raises.

Pick a beginners program and check your ego - all that volume at baby weights is doing nothing for you. Absolutely nothing at all.